Evaluation of the performance

We have done three performances so far and I was surprised to see that unlike in rehearsals every performance was completely different. I think that this was because each performance had a different audience who brought a different energy.

The first performance went well but not as well as the other two. I think this is because everybody was very nervous to put on the first show and so there was a mad energy flying around. Also we knew all of the audience, as they were friends from the school. This made it feel a bit less professional and like more of a joke. Therefore, I think that overall the performance was funnier but not as realistic and I think that they were laughing more at us actors making jokes than the characters being funny.

The second performance was on the same day but a couple of hours later. The audience changed, as we only knew about two people each (who were our parents) and thus we didn’t know anyone else in the audience. The general age of the audience changed as they went from being our age to being our parents’ age. This made it feel more professional and more like something that you would get in a real theatre. Also the parents didn't know who most of us were, which would have made them experience the performance more fully and see us for the characters and not the actors. Personally, I was a lot more calm and collected in the performance, as my nervous energy had worn off. However I still had a focused energy. Therefore my performance was a lot stronger and more realistic. I was also more aware of my blocking and where to direct my performance to the audience as I was more open because there was less tension blocking it.

In the third performance we were in Brighton on an outdoor stage which was facing towards a café, which was an interesting venue and drastically different from what we were used to performing it on. People could put their chairs outside the café and watch, so they were not people that we knew and instead they were random members of the public. We had quite a big audience and the main problem was that it was going to be extremely hard to be heard as there was a lot of background noise, including a band that halfway through the play decided to set up just down the street. However I felt that I projected my voice extremely well and that every word was heard. This was one of my favourite performances because I was sure that it was going to be the worst of the lot and yet I think I did quite well. The only problem was that I could have lost some of my characterisation in trying to be heard.

During the performances my physicality was quite strong but it improved throughout. In my first performance I felt like my tension stopped me from as physically open with the audience and as physically free with my other actors. For example, at the beginning I did not have as much contact with my fellow actors where as by the end Conrad, Borachio and I felt more like friends getting excited for the evil which we were about to commit. You could see this by our physical interactions, for example we would pat each other on the back and put our arms around one another.

Vocally, my performance was strong as everyone could hear me at all times and my articulation was good. Also I feel like I managed to use the beautiful sounds of Shakespeare's words effectively to make what I was saying sound good. For example when I said 'I had rather be a canker in the hedge' I used the hard sounds to make this sound vicious and sharp. However, again I think that my vocal skills improved throughout as I became more confident with the different audiences as I became more aware of my surroundings.

I think my characterisation was strong because I had a very clear idea of who my character was and what he was doing in the play. In my opinion my performance was very realistic and yet still had a lot of energy. I was also extremely surprised that in all three performances I got at least one laugh, which I thought would be impossible as my character is probably the least funny character in the whole play.

My relationship with the audience changed throughout. At the beginning I still had a strong relationship with the audience, however it was quite frantic and as I said before I think they viewed me more as an actor than as Don John. In the second performance I had a more professional relationship which the audience as they understood my character better. I had a better interaction with them because I was less nervous. In Brighton there was a whole new atmosphere as I knew that none of these people would give us any leeway if it was not funny or not enjoyable, as they were not our family or friends and so if they didn't like it they would get up and leave. Luckily nobody got up and left as we obviously kept their attention throughout and this felt like they enjoyed it more genuinely than the first audience.